Happy New Year! Well, sort of…
Let me explain. As we have officially hit the first day of Fall, by now most students have returned to school. I don’t know about you, but having been a student myself for many years, and had a parent who still works in the school system, Fall always feels like a new beginning, and I often still refer to September as the beginning of the year, where anything is possible. For me, the last two months came with many challenges, that have forced me into a place of reevaluation and action. Both, similar themes we see during the “resolutions” fad that occurs at the beginning of the Gregorian calendar New Year.
Shortly after returning from an amazing “Gala Chorus Festival” an international LGBTQ + music event, I came down with COVID for the second time. While, the fears and concerns around having COVID have lessened some for me, Ms. Rona, was still packing a punch, and my body suffered because of it. Slowly moving back into work, for the next weeks I was continuing experiencing “back failure.” Meaning, my back kept get thrown out. I would work, hurt my back, go to the Chiropractor, rest, heat/ice, repeat. This cycle repeated all the way until the end of August where I threw my back out so bad I could barely move. Siting, standing, walking felt impossible, and laying in one position barely moving was the only remedy for pain relief.
I had hit a new low, and I have had enough. So, in my initial recovery period, I had to take a hard look at myself, and evaluate some priorities. As I coach with my clients, self-care is not a luxury but a necessity, and I have been avoiding a very crucial part of my self-care: exercise. For those have been following my journey, you might reference a previous blog post of mine (https://www.integrativemassageworks.com/blog/movement-is-medicine), but I am human I make mistakes and I don’t always still to a plan. This is for many reasons one being, I hate exercise, like hate it. I don’t find regimented workouts enjoyable. They feel unattainable, painful, and I’d rather sleep in bed an extra half hour in the morning than get up to exercise. Even though I am a semi active person who enjoys, “walking, hiking, and yoga” I needed more to my movement routine.
With my tail between my legs, I shamefully went back to my Pilates trainer “Cate” who has been amazing at rehabbing me over the years. While, she is a pillar of compassion, she took one look at me, in my incapacitated state, and said, “we can’t let this happen again.” I agreed, although I didn’t know how I was going to make this work. Cate, set me up with a great soothing workout routine that only took 10 minutes a day. Slowly but surely my back began to improve and I marveled how with such a short routine, daily, I could make such a difference in how my body moved and felt.
As I progressed, Cate continued to morph and change my Pilates routines, and while I felt 90% better, I still hated having to figure out incorporating exercise into my life. Then a very wise, longtime friend and healer gave me a perspective that changed my views. They said to me, “look at exercise this way, it’s you caring for yourself, so that you can be the best you can be while caring for others. It’s a gift you give yourself, as we navigate a chaotic world.” That clicked for me, especially as I was starting to feel burnt out in work.
I must admit, I still don’t love exercise, I know it’s good for me, and when I do it, I feel better. Kind of like when kids don’t want to eat their vegetables, even though they know it’s good for them. You have to slowly incorporate them to feel their effects.
I offer this as a reminder and invitation to not wait for “New Year 2025” to see what changes or perspectives you can shift in order to better take care of yourselves. Life is hard, and it only seems to getting more difficult, but there are somethings in our control, and we, (you and I) deserve to have as much joy and ease in this journey that we can.